KENYA– Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) and Bio Food Products took home the most coveted awards in the Research and development Team of the Year category at the just concluded Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards held at Safari Park Hotel on September 14, 2018.
The glitzy event on a warm night in Nairobi was filled with cheers as food companies celebrated their R&D teams which had worked tirelessly to provide consumers with the most innovative products in the market.
The R&D Team of the Year was hotly contested, as many companies had put in several entries for their new and innovative products.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), Kenya emerged victorious after scooping a number of awards in the new products category.
The company’s Minute Maid Fruity Boost and Minute Maid Juice with Fruit Bits as well as its Minute Maid Fuze Tea took top positions in the soft beverages and hot beverage products categories.
The company also submitted its Schweppes +C, a lemon flavoured drink with Vitamin C and its range of flavoured, sparkling Dasani water brands.
They were closely followed by EABL which took three awards to bag the number two position for their new and exciting products including Orijin AHS spirit, Zinga spirit infused beer and Tusker Cider.
Bio foods Ltd took the number three position in this category for their innovations and wins for its Bio Barista Milk and Bio Yoghurt Fruit on the Bottom products.
In this R&D category, judges were looking out for the companies that submitted the highest number of products at the Awards, and which at the same time, ticked the most innovative boxes in terms of ingredients application, packaging, nutrition and health and value and market positioning.
About the Awards
The Awards ceremony, which are Africa’s most prestigious food industry awards, celebrate some of the most outstanding people, new products and company initiatives in the food, beverage and milling industry in Africa.
Now in its second year, the Awards ceremony attracted the who-is-who in the food manufacturing, retail and foodservice industry in the region, with over 400 people attending the event, which took place from 14.00 hours till late.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives sent its Acting Director of Agroprocessing, Mr. Simon Atebe, who was the Chief Guest, and the Acting Managing Director of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), Mr. Benard Nguyo, also made an appearance as one of the main guests.
Other notable attendees included the Barclays Kenya CEO, Mr. Jeremy Awori, several Managing Directors and CEOs from the industry, government agencies, supplier companies and other stakeholders.
This year’s Awards had a larger and expanded category profile, with new categories (new plants, new products, sustainability and training initiatives) added on top of the individual award categories from the 2017 edition of the Awards.
The next edition of the Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards ceremony will be held on July 12, 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Individuals and companies are encouraged to enter their applications for next year’s Awards process, which open on November 1, 2018.
More information about the Awards can be found on www.awards.foodbusinessafrica.com
